Concord man arrested for assault after tickling children playing in park

CONCORD - A local man is under arrest, accused of pulling up the shirts of three young children playing in a park last week and tickling them.

David Johnson, 35, of Perley St., allegedly tickled one of the children in front of a woman who went to the park after her 9-year-old daughter returned home from the playground and told her about the incident. The little girl was "very upset," police said, and the mother immediately went to the park, near Perley and South streets.

She saw Johnson sitting in the park, yelled at him to leave the playground and to get away from her children. Johnson stood up, walked behind another child, identified as a 5-year-old boy, and tickled him in front of the woman, police said. The woman, who was not identified in a news release, went up to Johnson and continued yelling at him until he finally left the park.

Police said Johnson tickled three children in all, ages 3, 5 and 7. He allegedly lifted up the children's shirts and ticked them on their bare stomachs. None of the children is related to him.

Johnson turned himself into police after investigators obtained a warrant for his arrest.

What's next: He is free on $15,000 personal recognizance bail pending arraignment on three charges of simple assault, class A misdemeanors, May 20 in 6th Circuit Court, Concord District Division.